The invention relates to a communications technique, and more particularly to a technique for communicating information, including advertising information, with automobiles.
In this information age, virtually everyone is xe2x80x9cconnectedxe2x80x9d with one another via telephone, cellular phone, facsimile, pager, etc. In particular, because of recent major advancements in Internet technology, many people also utilize a personal computer (PC), notebook computer, handheld computer, etc., with a modem to communicate electronic mail (E-mail) with one another over the Internet. In addition, with common web browser software of the type of the NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR or MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER browser installed in one such computer, a user is able to browse, on the computer, web pages from the world wide web (WWW), which is a graphical subnetwork of the Internet.
Many web pages, especially those providing free services such as search engines and other portal services, contain paid advertisements. Some web pages contain displayed options for providing directory assistance. One such option may be a xe2x80x9cYellow Pagexe2x80x9d option whereby a user may specify the desired product or service, and the area in which the user wants to obtain same. In return, the user is presented with information concerning each location of the provider of the desired product or service in the specified area.
To keep automobile users xe2x80x9cwiredxe2x80x9d even while on the road, a PC specifically designed for them, namely, the xe2x80x9cAutoPC,xe2x80x9d has been introduced. The AutoPC, which may be installed in the standard car stereo slot, comprises well known communications and navigation technologies. For example, the automobile users can utilize the AutoPC to communicate E-mail and pager messages. The users can also rely on the AutoPC to navigate with the aid of the U.S. government""s constellation of global positioning system (GPS) satellites. In response to signals from such satellites, in a conventional manner, the AutoPC pinpoints the vehicle""s location (in latitude and longitude). It also detects the vehicle""s speed and direction. With geographic information stored therein, the AutoPC is capable of verbally and visually communicating to the user instructions for reaching the destination.
The marriage of communications and GPS technologies benefitting automobiles has been observed. The resulting service is known as the xe2x80x9cOnStar service.xe2x80x9d This service requires that an OnStar system including a GPS receiver, and a cellular phone be installed in an automobile subscribing to the service. When an automobile user calls an OnStar service representative via the cellular phone, the system automatically communicates the vehicle""s location tracked by the GPS receiver. The service representative may then provide the user with directions, restaurant recommendations, and/or roadside assistance depending on the vehicle""s location.
In addition, to obtain diagnostic information from, and upgrade certain software in, an automobile, a system whereby an automobile communicates, with a remote station, data concerning the automobile is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,442,553 issued Aug. 15, 1995 to Parrillo. In the disclosed system, the remote station communicates the data via a cellular phone network to the automobile having a cellular phone connection, using the cellular phone number to locate the automobile.
We have recognized that the prior art system described above which uses the cellular phone number assigned to a cellular phone connection in a vehicle to locate the vehicle is disadvantageous. This stems from the fact that the cellular phone number appertains to, and is specifically associated with, the subscriber to the cellular phone service, who is most likely the current owner of the vehicle. As the cellular phone number is used for personal communications, when the ownership of the vehicle changes, the new owner would most likely replace the current cellular phone number with a new number for his/her own personal communications. As a result, the remote station in the prior art system can no longer locate and communicate with the vehicle using the old cellular phone number. Thus, the practicability of the prior art system turns on whether the system has a record of the latest phone numbers for locating vehicles. Even if procedures for registration of new phone numbers are in place, the workability of the system is undesirably subject to compliance by the new owners with the registration procedures.
In addition, utilizing the cellular phone network, the remote station in the prior art system when communicating data with multiple automobiles needs to call one automobile at a time. Thus, such a communication scheme is also ineffective especially when the remote station needs to transmit the same data, e.g., information concerning a recall of a certain type of automobile, to many automobiles. In that case, the remote station needs to make multiple calls to the respective vehicles to repeat the same data. Conversely, utilizing the cellular phone network, a vehicle can communicate with one remote station at a time. In the event that the same data from the vehicle needs to be communicated to various stations for different analyses, multiple calls need to be made to the respective stations one at a time, which is undesirable.
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, the communications between a vehicle and remote stations or servers are realized using electronic car-mail, referred to as xe2x80x9cC-mail.xe2x80x9d Like a conventional E-mail message, a C-mail message is formatted in accordance with well known protocols, and it may be delivered by conventional mail servers on a communications network such as the Internet. However, unlike E-mail whose address identifies a person for personal communications and is analogous to the aforementioned cellular phone number, the C-mail has an address identifying the vehicle itself. For example, the C-mail address may be made up of the vehicle identification number (VIN) identifying the vehicle. Such a C-mail address remains unchanged at least over the lifetime of the vehicle. As the C-mail address appertains to, or specifically associated with, the vehicle, rather than a person, e.g., the owner of the vehicle, communications with the vehicle using C-mail is intact throughout the lifetime of the vehicle, surviving all changes in the ownership of the vehicle. In addition, by taking advantage of the well known E-mail features, the vehicle may multicast via C-mail the same information, e.g., diagnostic information, simultaneously to various servers on the Internet for different analyses. Conversely, a server may multicast via C-mail the same information, e.g., recall information, simultaneously to selected vehicles using the corresponding VINs as parts of their C-mail addresses.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a user may utilize a car browser to browse advertising information from a communications network, e.g., the Internet. The advertising information is provided in a just-in-time (JIT) fashion, whose content is dependent upon the current location of the vehicle indicated by GPS coordinates.